There is a difference depending on what you get.
Some payware people create their aircraft to the real aircraft.
some payware models are real, crappy.
Some freeware models are great, but you will not get the same flight dynamics and sound as you would from payware.
Good companies for high quality(imo) are PMDG,A2A,VRsimulations, Aerosoft, and Justflight
I only tried A2A so far, but I will have a VRsim jet soon.
For addons here is what I recommend in no particular order
freeware:
T-6 Texan  on simv
A1 Skyraider on simv
OH-6A on simv(if you like helis)
Cessna 152 from FSinsider(was payware but released as free)
Explore Environment X on simv(if you do not get REX that is)
For payware(i don't have much but I know some good models)
REX
A2A aircraft like b17 or piper cub
Superbug f-18
As for as scenery do you want a certain area? Like United States, Europe, Australia?
For some good US scenery I would get PNW(only north west US) FTX makes good Australian scenery.

If I think of more I will tell ya.

Quote:


eh I thought it was one or the other, couldnt remember

Hello Hydra and welcome to the FSX forum.

Your confision reminds me about myself when I discovered the universe of Flight Simulator. That was a long time ago

I will try to provide exaplanations in a very simple, non-expert way, so that you can get a precise understanding of this universe from your newbie point of view

As you have already discovered, there are two kind of addons:
- freeware
- payware

The freeware addons are made by some people who enjoy offering their work to the community, or have fun building them, or both. This people use some of their free time to build those addons, and their skills vary a lot, so the quality of the addons vary a lot too.

This is why you will find addons that will not correspond to what you were expecting, and you will also find addons that will really blow your mind away.

Since it's difficult to discover everything by yourself, a good technique that I often advise to the beginners is to go through the screenshots section of the forums. There, you will see the addons that the various users have installed, you will be able to see if you like those addons or not, and if you like them then you will be able to ask to the author of the topic where he got them, and further details as well. That's the best approach, in my opinion


Now to the payware. The payware planes are made by professionnals, most of the time real teams working together on a project. As a consequence, the quality of the payware product is supposed to be much higher than a freeware one.

I said "supposed" because some payware companies sell products with very bad quality (especially one precise company, but I don't remember if the forum rules allow me to name it), so you have to be carefull.
EDIT: forget that.  I have just read your post above.
Avoid ABACUS products at all costs. AVOID THEM. Just my personnal advise.

However, usually payware products are much more detailled than freeware ones. The freeware aircrafts, for example, will usually have the same level of complexity than the default aircrafts. There are some exceptions, but very rare. The good payware aircrafts will have superior complexity.

For example, with the usual freeware plane, you start your engines pressing CTRL+E, you toggle the lights by pressing L, and you're good to go.
With a payware plane however, it will not be that simple. Take a look for example at what is needed to start the famous B-17 with the Accusim system, modelled by A2A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j1Xy3pvcyU

Take note that the A2A aircrafts that have the Accusim system modelled are actually the absolute best addons available for FSX. They are the most realistic, most detailled, most immersive aircrafts available. The currently modelled planes are:
- the B-17
- the P-47
- the Piper Cub
- the Boeing B-377
The other A2A planes are cool, but since the Accusim system is not available yet, they will not be as realistic and detailled as the ones I listed above.

Now if you have any further question, I'll gladly try to answer them

Daube,

Great advice about going through the screenshot forums! I found a good many of my favourite addons by looking through there

My personal recommendations mainly include freeware as I haven't purchased any payware yet (University doesn't go well with the finances)!

However, I have some of the demos and freeware addons from FTX and they are amazing! Their payware stuff looks even better Go to: http://www.fullterrain.com/

If you're wanting to cover Australia, AussieX covers Australia (plus a few other areas) in payware quality as freeware! Their scenery is especially good Go to: http://www.aussiex.org/

There's much more to add but it probably depends on what kind of flying you're wanting to do!

Matthew